Virtual Environments for AS Students
Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of & Applications in the Classroom
Since its inception in the 1970’s, online role playing games have given users a chance to navigate another world, interact with other characters, and make critical decisions to aid their character along a safe path, all from the comfort of their own home. Today, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) have expanded tremendously since they first broke ground in the 1970’s, however, we are now just starting to realize how effective these online environments can be for aiding those with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). Because AS falls at the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum, these learners are able to function pretty regularly, though they have problems in social settings and need assistance when situations fall out of their memorized routine. Working with these learners involves a Theory of Mind approach, wherein the way the AS mind works must be explored before proceeding with any kind of treatment. With all this in mind, there are hopes that using MMORPG’s to simulate real-world experiences will help AS students as they navigate worlds, from a safe distance, and make decisions that are outside their comfort zone.
Marcus D. Childress writes in his report, “Using Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games for Online Learning” “The real-time simulated environment provides the opportunity for collaboration with other users and interaction with objects in the Second Life virtual world.” Childress observes the usefulness in creating an environment where players can play through simulated real-life and real-time experiences.
One of the hardest aspects of an autistic person’s life, according to the authors, is dealing with the unpredictability of everyday life, particularly in regards to social situations and social cues. While Asperger syndrome (AS) students may have an extremely high IQ and desire to socialize, they have a hard time dealing with something that is foreign to them, this experience is then coupled and multiplied by the anxiety associated with the foreign experience. An experience like riding a bus or eating in a cafeteria. The projects aim is to create simulations of social environments to curb this anxiety and better ready the student for the real world.
In regards to education, Childress goes on to say, “MMORPG’s provide educators with opportunities to develop learning activities which closely replicate real-world learning experiences previously available only through face-to-face interaction.” With AS students tendency to freeze up in situations unfamiliar to them, using a virtual environment allows for practice and repetition with the safety net of playing through the computer.
In a 1998 study, Brown, Standen and Cobb found “students who had previously practiced shopping skills using a VLE could complete these tasks more quickly and more accurately in the real world compared with a control group”(Brown, Standen, & Cobb, 1998; Cromby, Standen, & Brown 1996). In a similar study entitled the AS Interactive Project, the program’s goal is to facilitate social interaction skills; “the social interaction skills we aim to examine in the AS Interactive Project are: appropriate use of personal space; choosing and using appropriate responses for both behavior and communication; and dealing with unexpected situations or changes to routine.” (Cobb 2002). Using a virtual environment can help assimilate AS students to situations in order to make them part of their routine.
Evidence of effectiveness
In a 1998 study, Brown, Standen and Cobb found “students who had previously practiced shopping skills using a VLE could complete these tasks more quickly and more accurately in the real world compared with a control group”(Brown, Standen, & Cobb, 1998; Cromby, Standen, & Brown 1996). In a similar study entitled the AS Interactive Project, AS students who practiced relational situations, such as finding a seat in a café or on a bus, were able to watch a video of a similar situation and articulate the appropriate response.
Critics and their rationale
Some say the efforts of these studies are lost on AS learners simply because the studies aim to change the way their mind functions, and the way an AS mind functions is based on routine and steadfast lack of change.
One setback is the VE café or bus still appears, to someone with AS, as fake and not a realistic replica of real life. Because of this challenge many AS participants will often break social norms like walking through two people conversing but will walk around a bed of flowers, as Cobb indicates in her 2002 report, “Consequently, one of the main challenges facing the project is to investigate why some social conventions seems to be reflected in behavior during VE use (not walking across flowerbeds), whilst others do not (respecting the personal space of people in a café) (Cobb, Beardon, Eastgate, 2002).
One factor that is becoming increasingly less of an issue is the cost of virtual reality and providing virtual environments for patients. However, what once costs thousands of dollars is now able to be purchased with programs like Second Life, World of War, and other multi-player online role-playing environments.
Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations
While many AS students are able to experience some kind of benefit from the use of a simulation experience in relation to social expectations and behavior, many times this ability to recognize appropriate behavior comes from the help of a tutor, aide, or recommendation implicit in the environment. This kind of external assistance outside of the situation at hand is not going to be available in the real world and so it is important that AS students not only memorize appropriate behavioral responses but also learn when social expectations are designated and when they are not.
Signed “life experiences”, testimonies and stories
References and other links of interest
Cobb, S., Beardon, L., Eastgate, R., Glover, T., Kerr, S., Neale, H., et al. (2002, March). Applied virtual environments to support learning of social interactionskills in users with Asperger's Syndrome. Digital Creativity, 13(1), 11. Retrieved May 10, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database
Parsons, S., Mitchell, P. (2002), The potential of virtual reality in social skills training for people with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 46, 430-443
Rutten, A., Cobb, S., Neale, H., Kerr, S., Leonard, A., Parsons, S., & Mitchell, P. (2003). The AS interactive project: single-user and and collaborative virtual environments for people with high-functioning autistic spectrum disorders. The Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation, Vol. 14, Issue 5, 233-241.
